Closing In!
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Jul 10, 2023 at 09:23:36 AM
Hey guys, firstly let me apologize for my tardiness (again) in regard to Episode 2’s status. The end is in sight, however I am still behind the ball on having the book ready to send to the printer. I’ll admit, this is fully due to a mismanagement of my time juggling multiple projects. Pages are being fast tracked between me and my assistant and the new target date is to begin collecting surveys on September 3rd. I know that is some time away, but there are some changes I made to align with the new direction the series will be taking. This comes after spending countless hours developing these characters for TV, where I put so much energy and thought into the characters, that I wanted to begin reflecting that in the comic. I’m excited to get it out to you all soon to show how much better of a product this has become compared to my first graphic novel.
Again, I apologize for my long delay with this project. I assure you it’ll be releasing soon, and that I’m also including something extra as a thank you for your patience with me.
New Year. New Update.
almost 2 years ago
– Mon, Jan 02, 2023 at 08:30:32 AM
Happy New Year to everyone!
I think for a lot of us these last few years have been a bit overwhelming, but also eye-opening and an extensive period of reflection (which is just a byproduct of things stopping in place). I think it was a necessity though as I haven’t seen anyone who hasn’t come out of these last few years a better person. It’s my personal belief that we should all be going in 2023 with more acute focus on the things we want, understanding the importance of optimism and positive thinking while excising the unnecessary and despondent. I hope everyone reading this goes into the new year renewed, setting things in motion to pursue their goals and live life to its fullest.
Speaking on goals, I’m starting the new year behind on mine. Well, not completely…I just had to do a bit of adjusting of timelines and milestones.
As some of you may have seen, after a competitive bid between networks and platforms, Trill League has been picked up for development at BET+. Straight-to-series would’ve been better, but hey, who’s going to give a multi-million dollar budget to someone who has never produced a television show before? However, Lionsgate has set this project up to succeed more than I could’ve ever hoped for with the team we have in place, and I’m extremely grateful for their belief in my artistic vision.
We were commenced to begin working on the pilot, which has been a task I have fully immersed myself into. While the template for what I wanted the animated series to be originated while working on the Quibi adaptation, I have now been forced to expand on that concept as we have to evolve the series from a 10-minute format to half-hour. As some of you know, I’ve been working with Trill League and its themes and characters since 2014. Those ideas have changed and matured over time alongside myself, and understanding what they look like almost 10 years later is my current creative challenge. But it’s not only that; I’ve been the sole visionary, artist, and writer of this project since its conception, and now I have to dive deep into recognizing the core of what this idea is in order for other creatives to contribute and build upon it. In other words, I have to learn to not only comprehend what Trill League means, but to also let it go.
Since this past fall, my co-writer and co-producer Leann Bowen has been teaching me the ropes of what being a showrunner entails. Leann is a veteran writer in Television and has worked on shows such as Dear White People, Reboot, and Ted Lasso, the latter of which she was a co-producer. Needless to say, I have an Emmy award winning writer helping develop Trill League, and that is what I’m going in with the intent to produce—a series whose comedy is worthy of being nominated for such an award. Will we succeed? Only time will tell, but I’m optimistic we have the ability to do so and will create a beacon that will progress many creatives’ careers and the outlook of what animation is and its place in black art & culture.
With that being said…yea, the book is delayed. I can’t sugarcoat that in any other way simply because my focus has shifted to the show. Fortunately, it won’t be an abysmally long delay as with my first book, since I’m still trucking along, cleaning up pages, and rewriting jokes (because I'm a perfectionist AND masochist). However, as much as I try, I find it difficult on certain days to go from “comedy and story writer” brain to “illustrator” brain on the turn of a dime. I have to give myself headway to dive into either sitting down at a laptop for hours on end, or a Cintiq, and usually when I’m in one mode, I prefer to stay there, just so I can let the creative juices marinate. Going back to excising the unnecessary, this is something I’m tussling with moving forward in my creative pursuits, but I’ll divulge on that at a later time for those who are curious about my creative journey as a professional artist and its challenges.
My current goal now is Spring 2023. There’s a good chance that once this pilot is locked, we will go straight into production as early as late Spring, so it’s imperative for me to get this project completed quickly as I can’t fathom the attention that will be required to work in tandem with both the writing and art teams, as well as the network and producers, and coordinate with them on this vision.
As I stated before, I’m grateful to you all. Sometimes my perfectionisms and ambitions don’t align with my productivity goals, as I’d be working on my 5th book and merch line right now, but I’m slow to accept my limitations as an artist. I assure you the book will be released and printed soon, and in your hands, and then hopefully if the show comes out, you can say you were one of the few who contributed to something big before it became big.
I can’t say it’s gonna be worth any money though.
But I promise it'll look nice.
I'll get back to you soon.
-Ant
